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Anna Paquin
Anna Paquin in 2006
Born	Anna Helene Paquin July 24, 1982 (1982-07-24) (age 26) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Occupation	Actress, Producer
Years active	1993–present
Awards won Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress 1993 The Piano Other awards Gotham Award for Best Cast 2005 The Squid and the Whale LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1993 The Piano OFCS Award for Best Ensemble 2000 Almost Famous

Anna Helene Paquin (born July 24, 1982) is an Academy Award-winning, Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated, Canadian-New Zealander actress. Her breakthrough performance was in The Piano, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and made her the second youngest winner in history at the age of 11.¹ She is also the first Canadian-born actress to win Best Supporting Actress.

Early life

Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of Mary (née Brophy), an English teacher and native of Wellington, New Zealand, and Brian Paquin, a high school physical education teacher. Paquin has two older siblings: brother Andrew, born in 1977, and sister Katya, born in 1980.²³ Paquin moved to New Zealand when she was four. She attended the Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School until she was eight or nine.⁴ Her musical childhood hobbies in New Zealand included playing the viola, cello and piano. She also did gymnastics, ballet, swimming and downhill skiing, but she didn't have hobbies related to acting.⁵⁶

While in New Zealand, Paquin attended Hutt Intermediate School from 1994–1995, where she completed Form 1 and 2. Having begun her secondary education in Wellington, New Zealand, she completed her high school diploma at Windward School in Los Angeles, where she moved with her mother following her parents' divorce in 1995.⁷ She graduated from Windward School in June 2000 and completed the school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at a special education center. She studied at Columbia University for one year, but has since been on a leave of absence to continue her acting career.

Career

Acclaim as a child actress

It was in New Zealand in 1991 that Paquin became an actress by chance. Director Jane Campion was looking for a little girl to play a key role in The Piano, set to film in New Zealand, and a newspaper advertisement was run announcing an open audition. Paquin's sister read the advert and went to try out with a friend; Paquin herself tagged along because she had nothing better to do. When Campion met Paquin—whose only acting experience had been as a skunk in a school play—she was very impressed with the nine-year-old's performance of the monologue about Flora's father, and she was chosen from among the 5000 candidates.⁶

When The Piano was released in 1993 it was lauded by critics, won prizes at a number of film festivals, and eventually became a popular movie among a wide audience. Paquin's debut performance in the film earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of eleven, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history after Tatum O'Neal.⁶

Paquin as Flora, telling the story about her father in The Piano

The Piano was made as a small independent movie and wasn't intended to be widely known, and Paquin and her family didn't plan to continue in the acting circles.⁵ However, she was invited to the William Morris Agency, and she kept receiving offers for new roles. She systematically refused them, but she did appear in three commercials for the phone company MCI (now Verizon).⁸ She also appeared as a voice in an audio book entitled The Magnificent Nose in 1994.

In 1996, she appeared in two movies. The first role was as young Jane in Jane Eyre. The other was a lead part in Fly Away Home playing a young girl who, after her mother dies, moves in with her father and finds solace in taking care of orphaned goslings.⁹

As a teenager, she had roles in films including A Walk on the Moon, The Member of the Wedding, Amistad, Hurlyburly and She's All That.

X-Men and beyond

Paquin returned to worldwide prominence with her role as Rogue in the blockbuster X-Men movie in 2000,¹ its sequel X2: X-Men United in 2003, and its third installment X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006.

In the summer of 2006, she completed filming Blue State. She executive-produced the film, the film having been made by Paquin Films, a production company formed by both her and her brother, Andrew Paquin.¹⁰ In November 2006, she completed Margaret. This film is now scheduled for release in 2009, according to imdb.com.

In 2007, Paquin received an Emmy Award nomination for Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role as Elaine Goodale in the HBO's made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, based on Dee Brown's bestseller. She also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in similar categories.

In 2008, Paquin appears as Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, her first role in a TV series. The show is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris.¹¹ A second season of the show has been commissioned, and is scheduled to air in summer 2009.

CBS has announced that Paquin will play Irena Sendler, a Polish woman hailed as a heroine of the Holocaust, in The Irena Sendler Story, a TV film biopic based on the book Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story, by Anna Mieszkowska. The film is currently in production in Latvia, and will be a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for the network.¹²

Theatrical career

Paquin is also an award-winning stage actress, having made her stage debut in 2001 in a production of The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater. She won a 2001-2002 Theater World Award for her performance.¹³ She has since appeared in a number of other plays, but has only once appeared in a play outside of the USA, when she appeared on the West End stage in London, England in a production of This is Our Youth in 2002.

Personal life

Paquin has reportedly been romantically linked with actors Logan Marshall-Green and Kieran Culkin. It was reported in 2008 that she and Stephen Moyer, who plays her boyfriend in the HBO series True Blood, have been dating since filming the series' pilot.¹⁴

Paquin lives in Venice, Los Angeles, California. Her hobbies include surfing and cycling.¹⁵

Filmography and awards

Anna Paquin as Rogue in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Theatre credits

• The Glory of Living; MCC Theater, New York, 2001 - Lisa (Won Theatre World Award (Outstanding Actress) in 2002 for the role)
• This is Our Youth; Garrick Theatre, London, 2002 - Jessica Goldman (Nominated for Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Actress) for the role)
• Manuscript (Reading); Falmouth Academy, New York, 2003 - Elizabeth Hawkins
• Drug Buddy (Reading); Manhattan Theater Club, 2003 - Wendy
• Roulette; Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York, 2004 - Jenny
• The Distance From Here; MCC Theater, New York, 2004 - Shari (Won Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Cast Ensemble) in 2004)
• The 24 Hour Plays, South Of The Border; MCC Theater, 2004 - Maylene
• After Ashley; Vineyard Theatre, New York, 2005 - Julie Bell
• Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead; (Reading); Westside Theatre, New York, 2005 - Marcy
• The 24 Hour Plays, The Blizzard; MCC Theater, 2006 - Jenny

Awards

• 1993 - LAFCA Award - Best Supporting Actress for The Piano
• 1994 - Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actress for The Piano
• 2001 - Online Film Critics Society Awards - Best Ensemble Cast Performance for Almost Famous
• 2005 - Gotham Awards - Best Ensemble Cast for The Squid and the Whale

Nominations

• 1994 - Golden Globe Award - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for The Piano
• 1997 - YoungStar Awards - Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film for Fly Away Home
• 1997 - Young Artist Awards - Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress for Fly Away Home
• 1998 - Young Artist Awards - Best Performance in a TV Movie/Pilot/Mini-Series - Leading Young Actress for The Member of the Wedding
• 1999 - YoungStar Awards - Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film for A Walk On The Moon
• 2000 - Young Artist Awards - Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress for A Walk On The Moon
• 2001 - Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture for Almost Famous
• 2001 - Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films - Best Performance by a Younger Actor for X-Men
• 2001 - Saturn Award - Best Performance by a Younger Actor for X-Men
• 2001 - Blockbuster Entertainment Award - Favorite Actress - Science Fiction for X-Men
• 2003 - Teen Choice Awards - Choice Movie Chemistry for X2: X-Men United
• 2004 - MTV Movie Awards 2 nominations:

- Best Kiss for X2: X-Men United

- Best On-Screen Team for X2: X-Men United

• 2007 - Emmy Award - Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
• 2008 - Golden Globe Award - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
• 2008 - Screen Actors Guild Award - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Anna Paquin

• Anna Paquin at the Internet Movie Database
• Anna Paquin Online
• The Onion A.V. Club interview